An Invitation to Leap

|| WORD || The temptation to put things off is understandable, but the price we pay for procrastinating is high — studies show that procrastinators have higher levels of stress, a weaker immune system, poorer sleep, and, unsurprisingly, given all of that, lower levels of happiness. ~ (My Positive Psych Prof.) Tal Ben Shahar!

There’s simple ways that can help overcome the tendency to drag one’s feet and wait.

The easiest and coolest approach is called “the five-minute takeoff.”

You start doing the thing you’ve been putting off, no matter how much you feel like doing it, for the next five minutes.

It’s a popular assumption that in order to do something you have to really, truly, deeply want to do it — to be in the right mindset, to feel motivated and inspired, and, of course, have all your ducks in a row.

This is NOT the case. Usually to get the job done, it’s enough to just begin.

It totally rocks.

The first step jumpstarts the goal and brings about more action.

So if you’ve lost steam and you’re challenged by getting something off the ground, or you’re stuck in the middle — pick a small part of your project and work on it in five minute increments.

Five minutes a day, for the next seven days.

Think of it as a game.

It takes so little. And more often than not, in a game, it’s understood that movement – if not being everything – is really all that matters.

Action begets more action and reinforces itself in the form of happy feels, practical next steps, food on the table, and cool sources of inspiration.

Too small? Think again. The five-minute takeoff is an invitation to leap.